Week 4

Game Review(s)

-          Adventure

Am I the only one who had trouble even playing this game? Either it didn’t start, or there really was nothing more to the core mechanic than pulling the levers to change what appeared on the screen. I couldn’t deduce a noticeable theme, and by extension, a noticeable goal either. There appears to be no challenge, no story. The only credit I can give this game is its barely acceptable interface design, simple, but still confusing. Even text based games do a better job.

Again, like the Zelda game from last week, I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt and assume there were glitches involved.

-          The Lion King

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Yes, it’s a real dos game, look it up. Made in 1994 by Interactive Entertainment in cooperation with Disney, The Lion King video game ads an interactive element to a slightly edited storyline from the original movie. The game is controlled entirely via the keyboard, no mouse inputs whatsoever. The player uses the arrow keys to move and the spacebar to jump.

If you’ve seen the original movie (you’re awesome) you’ll be familiar with the narrative of this game. The player plays as Simba, and progressed through the game in levels as he matures throughout the storyline. The game is a 2D platformer where the player can choose to rush through the levels, or backtrack and traverse the entire stage, collecting extra lives and the like, although some stages are strictly forward moving and extremely fast paced.

The goal of the game is to complete all the levels and their bosses, killing smaller enemies along the way. The killing mechanic of jumping on enemies’ heads is effectively adapted from the Mario Brothers and similar platformer game. Although, if the player fails to land the jump correctly, the enemy will damage them. Lose all your health, and Simba will faint, causing you to return to the last checkpoint. Like in the Mario Brothers, the player has a set number of lives too, lose all of those, and you must restart the game entirely.

This game was particularly fun to play with the variety of different progression modes, from free form, to constant movement that requires expert timing.

Game Design

Please note, this game is in development, anything listed here is subject to massive change. It will also most likely replace and/or merge with our existing territorial acquisition game.

Escape the Uni is a greatly exaggerated escape game parody of the average day of a student here at JCU. The player begins at the start point and the objective is to make it back to their dormitory room for a well deserved rest after a hard day’s share of classes. They must find their lost student ID card in order to make it into other campus buildings to collect items that will help them get home, facing chances and adversities along the way.

Like our previous games, a dice roll is used to move, and chance cards are randomly placed around the field for player to either take advantage of, or fall victim to. The student ID is in an unknown location, and must be found with a high enough dice roll in order to progress. If the ID card is not found in one building (i.e. the library) then the player MUST move on and search another building (i.e. the computer labs).

-          Security guards

o   Various weapons

-          Professors

o   Negative effects

§  i.e. Miss a turn

-          Snakes

o   Avoid

-          Items -> unlock exits

o   Student ID card

o   Food

-          Places

o   Colleges

o   Classrooms

o   Other buildings

o   Bus stops

-          Blockades

o   Roadworks

o   Police

Other rules:

-          You can find the ID in a place where you previously failed to find it, but only after failing to find it in another location

-          Players can find items in any order to progress to the end

o   Cans of red bull for energy

o   ID card for building access

-          Chance cards

o   Effects

o   The possibilities are endless

§  “No parking space, miss a turn.”

§  “You stub your toe, miss a turn.”

§  “You’ve been attacked by scrub turkeys, and lose your ID card in the process.”

The map of the game board can (but not necessarily will) mimic the exact layout of JCU for maximum aesthetic appeal and relation to the target audience of JCU students. The comedic aura of the game is something that players can relate to, because it is so plausible and something like this has happened to so many of them personally. That is why the game can be such a success.